I am sitting in the same place as yesterday and the scenes are very different. As I walked I saw a skull lying on the ground. A Sadhu with no nose chanting (above). Lots of people asking “boat madam? “madam boat?” Three skulls floating side by side. A Sadhu wrapped in a tiger skin with beads wrapped into cone on his head. People shooting footage with a video camera. People bathing. A woman putting a sari on without revealing her breasts. A body burning at the poor man’s ghat and a plume of smoke rising above it.
Only one boy selling postcards. People chanting in the temples. A boy gargling water from the Ganges. People brushing their teeth. Dobhi wallas pounding clothing on rocks. Aaris lying on the sand to dry. Clothes lines full of Indian trousers. A woman collecting clay in a little metal jar. A man practicing butterfly in the water. A little boy being swung around in a piece of cloth. Women sweeping up yesterday’s dust and dirt. Frederique and her friend drinking chai. A westerner with a dhoti around his neck. A man giving us mint to chew. People selling flowers and other offerings. A man asking me if I study in Varanasi. Western women looking really harassed. A man really getting bothered by boat men.